Ever noticed a problem others seem blind to?

Yoela Palkin turned that outsider perspective into three successful exits. From launching 30 iOS apps during the App Store's early days to challenging traditional VC wisdom, she spots inefficiencies insiders miss and transforms them into gold.

With a track record of scaling MEA to $6 million with just 14 people and growing Baskit to $2 million ARR in 18 months, Yoela's contrarian approach delivers results. Now as founder of 77 Labs, she invests in companies solving unsexy but critical problems that others overlook. Her immigrant background and family's entrepreneurial resilience formed the foundation for her unique ability to see opportunity where others see obstacles.

Key Talking Points:

• The three pillars of outsider thinking: pattern recognition from outside the system, resourcefulness over resources, and healthy skepticism
• Why feeling the pain point personally is essential to developing a solution—if there are no dollar signs attached, it's not a real problem
• How Yoela validates ideas by confirming the same problem in at least three places before trusting her instincts
• Why cash flow is king—prioritising breaking even quickly allowed her companies to succeed where venture-backed competitors failed

Links & Resources:

• Twitter: @yoelapalkin
• Newsletter: Anti-Status Quo
• Website: 77labs.com
• Book Recommendation: "How to Make a Few Billion Dollars" by Brad Jacobs
• Podcast Recommendations: The Founders Podcast, Invest Like the Best

Today's Exercise: The Challenge Everything Exercise

This quarterly check-in helps you question your priorities and identify what's truly important. It forces you to take an outsider's perspective on your own work and determine what's worth continuing.

Steps to Apply:

1. Write down everything you're currently focused on
2. For each item, ask: "If I were not to do this, or if this were not to work, what would I be doing?"
3. Challenge your assumptions by asking if the opposite were true, would your actions still make sense?
4. Sort your priorities into two buckets: ideas that work and should continue, and tasks that should be eliminated
5. Commit to stopping activities that don't serve your ultimate goals

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